Comment on "Civil servants must learn English"(China Daily, Feb 16)

In the letter "English still common tongue" on Feb 24, the author supposes that English is the common language.

I agree that English is the most used language in the business world today.

However, if we look at history, when France was a very dominant power many centuries ago, French was the most used language.

Then when England became a global power with its powerful navy and worldwide colonial empire, English became the language of the business world. That continued when the United States became a world power after World War II.

We know which country is expanding by leaps and bounds now.

In fact, one of the most interesting discussions I have with my students at Beijing City University is, when will China become the number one world economic power? And when that happens, and it will, Chinese will soon become the language of the world economy.

Marty Brown, via e-mail

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(China Daily 03/02/2012 page9)